


Maybe the Apocalypse Isn't so Bad After All

by tastyeclairr



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action Comedy, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Descriptions of gore, Gay Panic, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Minor Violence, Romantic Comedy, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, i've never written this kind of thing before so watch me squirm, lio is really dense, no beta we die like men, title pending, updates weekly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23748403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastyeclairr/pseuds/tastyeclairr
Summary: When a mysterious event that nobody can explain causes a zombie virus outbreak, the Burning Rescue squad and Mad Burnish are forced to band together to survive.━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━Galo flips around and shoots the thing standing behind him right between the eyes. It makes a lovely crunching sound and green grey matter flies everywhere, even on himself.He puts a hand up and doubles over, throwing up whatever rations they had that morning.‘That’s disgusting.’ Lio turns around and puts a hand on his hip. ‘You’re going to get hungry quicker now.’Galo groans and wipes his mouth. ‘Yeah, I know.’ He composes himself and stands up straight, cringing at the mess of grey matter on his pant leg.‘You’re gonna have to learn to deal with brains, man,’ Luica says, still scribbling in her notebook. ‘We can’t keep giving you rations because you’re hungry from throwing up all day.’‘I know,’ Galo exhales. He kicks the corpse in front of him. ‘Trust me, I know how inconvenient it is.’‘Here’s some practice,’ Lio says, pointing in front of Galo. ‘Defend our camp, I’m going to relax for a bit.’You asshole, there’s no relaxing in a zombie apocalypse!’ Galo protests. ‘Help me out!’
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Kudos: 15





	1. the curse of long hair

‘GALO! WATCH YOUR BACK!’

Galo flips around and shoots the thing standing behind him right between the eyes. It makes a lovely crunching sound and green grey matter flies everywhere, even on himself.

He puts a hand up and doubles over, throwing up whatever rations they had that morning.

‘That’s disgusting.’ Lio turns around and puts a hand on his hip. ‘You’re going to get hungry quicker now.’

Galo groans and wipes his mouth. ‘Yeah, I know.’ He composes himself and stands up straight, cringing at the mess of grey matter on his pant leg.

‘You’re gonna have to learn to deal with brains, man,’ Luica says, still scribbling in her notebook. ‘We can’t keep giving you rations because you’re hungry from throwing up all day.’

‘I _know_ ,’ Galo exhales. He kicks the corpse in front of him. ‘Trust me, I know how inconvenient it is.’

‘Here’s some practice,’ Lio says, pointing in front of Galo. ‘Defend our camp, I’m going to relax for a bit.’

‘You asshole, there’s no relaxing in a zombie apocalypse!’ Galo protests. ‘Help me out!’

Lio waves his hand dismissively, and Galo grumbles, stomping on the spot.

‘Fine,’ he says, stomping one foot. ‘I can do this.’

‘You got this babe,’ Lucia grins.

‘Shut up.’

Galo yanks out the existing magazine in his gun and shoves another in there. He squints at the small horde coming towards their camp and clicks his gun into auto. Empty bullet shells surround him as he completely emaciates the horde before they can even get close. He resists feeling sick again when he looks at all of the remains. He runs up to a few of the stragglers and decapitates them with his axe, the black blood sprays onto his chest now, and Galo’s literally about to just jump into a river to get it all off. He wipes it off with the ragged towel in his pocket.

Another few zombies stagger up to him, and Galo quickly switches to his gun and shoots them with one bullet. Blood floods the area around him, sprays on the surrounding buildings and trees. The road is black from it all.

He does a quick scan to make sure that there are no others and finally decides it’s safe.

He walks back, pale in the face.

‘Nice ass,’ Lucia teases when Galo bends over to re-tie his shoelace.

Galo scoffs and flips her off, before sitting down at their camp. ‘Someone else defend. Lucia, Aina, you do it for once in your entire life.’

Aina jumps up and grabs the two swords she keeps behind her. Lucia has dual pistols and a machete, the epitome of zombie apocalypse weaponry. She follows Aina to go fuck up some zombies, and Galo flops back, looking up at the roof above him.

They’ve taken residence in some abandoned house, honestly one of the best places that they could have gotten. With people leaving their homes to go evacuate and go on the run, they all looked for the house in the best condition and with the least windows/doors. The fewer entry points the better. But just enough that if they’re trapped inside with some zombies they can escape easily. They chose a pretty good one, a modern enough house that still works, but small and modest enough that it blends in with the rest of the houses along the strip. You wouldn’t think twice about it, basically.

‘How was it?’ Lio asks. He’s sitting next to Galo, both of them out on the front verandah.

‘Not good,’ Galo says with a groan. ‘One of them bled all over me.’

‘Fun,’ Lio says, flipping a page in his book. He’s reading some book called _Autoboyography_ , which kinda just sounds like the most masculine book of all time. Galo doesn’t even really want to ask what it’s about. ‘I’m proud of you, though.’

‘Why?’ Galo sits up quickly.

‘You were able to do it without anyone’s help, and you don’t seem _too_ traumatised,’ Lio says. His smile is almost condescending, but Galo’s not sure if he meant it that way. ‘You’ll get there.’

He pats Galo’s leg, then returns to reading his book. Galo gulps at his affection, but shakes his head and reminds himself to stop thinking like that: they’re in an apocalypse, he’s got better things to worry about than if Lio’s hand on his leg was like that or not. It definitely wasn’t- it was just a friendly thing.

Looking for something to say, he resorts to the book. ‘So uh... what are you reading?’

Lio does this cute little hum and looks up at him. ‘I don’t know, I picked it up from the house,’ he says, closing the book with his forefinger wedged into the book where his page was. He flips the book around, looking at the cover. ‘I think it’s about this guy who’s writing a book who falls in love with the guy running his seminar or something. I think the guy’s mormon, so like, he can’t really date another man or something- I honestly don’t know.’ Galo nods, trying to suppress his inner turmoil of “if Lio picked out the gay book, maybe he’s gay?”

‘Sounds interesting,’ he says calmly. ‘I didn’t take you for somebody who read romance books.’

‘I usually don’t,’ Lio replies. ‘Then again, I didn’t really have time for reading. But I don’t know, this kinda caught my eye.’

Caught his eye? Galo gulps, his turmoil only increasing from that comment.

‘Who would have thought that you would have more time to read in a literal apocalypse?’ He says, looking over at the other two. They’re having a great time slicing some zombie ass and Lucia’s basically surrounded by bullet shells. Lio laughs softly and agrees, opening up his book again.

‘Who would have thought,’ he hums.

Galo sighs and lies back again. ‘It’s all pretty weird,’ he says, and Lio gives a nod. ‘Wonder if this will ever end.’

Lio closes his book again. He’d probably only gotten through a sentence, why would he close it now?

‘Let’s not think about the ending of this, Galo,’ he says, nudging for him to sit up. ‘We’ll be okay.’

Galo sits up and mutters an agreement. ‘When will the others be back?’

Lio shrugs. ‘I dunno,’ he says. ‘But they’re good at what they do so don’t worry about them. Just try and relax. Here.’

Lio hands Galo his book and stands up.

‘I’ll be right back.’

Galo tilts his head, then shrugs and looks at the book in his hands. It has a book on the cover with two figures holding hands standing on the top of the book. There’s a night sky on the cover too. It looks kind of peaceful.

Lio comes back with a brush and a radio and sits down behind Galo.

‘Read it out to me, I’m going to brush your hair, and I’ll play some nice music,’ he says, flicking on the radio. Soothing piano plays through the speakers and Lio tells him what page he was on. ‘You need to relax.’

He reaches up and takes out Galo’s hairtie, wrapping it around his wrist. Galo’s hair falls out and hangs low around his waistline.

‘Your hair is very long,’ Lio mutters, running his fingers through it. It snags a few times and Galo winces, but he gets most of the main knotting out pretty quickly. ‘I don’t really have to worry about knots.’

‘The curse of long hair,’ Galo sighs. Lio continues to brush his hair, humming along to the music on the radio. Lio’s hands and the brush feels nice against his head, and the small tug of the brush soothes him already. He flips to the page number Lio stated earlier and starts reading, not really understanding what he’s saying. He doesn’t know anything about the plot but maybe as they keep reading he will.

At the jokes, Lio chuckles behind Galo, and Galo can’t help but notice how warm his nose gets when Lio laughs. It’s a lovely sound. He wants to listen to it forever. In fact, he wants to do this forever. Just the calm music, some reading, and Lio’s hands running through his hair. That would be nice, really, really, nice. He might even fall asleep, but that would be much to embarrassing so he uses his willpower to stay up and awake and reading. He wouldn’t want to miss this, anyway.

‘Thanks for doing this, Lio,’ Galo mumbles in a gap between chapters. Lio stops brushing.

‘Of course,’ he says, placing a hand on Galo’s shoulder. ‘I care about you and your wellbeing. I want you to be happy.’

Galo’s nose feels warm again so he rubs it in hopes it might go away. That only makes it worse.

‘I’d do the same for you,’ he says, trying to hide the fact his face is completely red.

‘Thank you,’ Lio says quietly, taking a section of Galo’s hair. Galo doesn’t even really need to reply, he just continues reading while Lio brushes his hair. It’s quite an intimate activity if he’s honest, but it feels nice so he’s not complaining. His hair is completely void of knotting at this point, but Lio continues to brush his hair. Galo smiles to himself at that, but a voice in the back of his head is screaming that maybe, just maybe, Lio likes him even a tiny bit. But Galo pushes back that voice because that’s impossible and just Galo’s wishful thinking. Instead, he focuses on reading out the book without stumbling over his words.

‘What are you homos doing?’ Lucia says, sitting with them on the front steps. Galo stops the radio and slams the book shut.

‘Nothing, I thought you were defending,’ he says quickly.

‘Oh, I was brushing Galo’s hair, and he was reading my book,’ Lio says, and Galo’s heart stops.

Lucia raises her eyebrows at Galo, and he gives her a death stare.

‘That sounds fun,’ she says. ‘Aina and I have killed basically every zombie in a 1km radius so I think we’re good.’

Lio commends them for their hard work and redoes Galo’s hair part, leaving his hair down. ‘Heard anything from the others? It’s starting to get dark.’

Lucia nods. ‘They’re on their way back.’ She shows off a walkie talkie on her waistband. ‘They said they got some good resources like food, lots of water, and a few blankets.’

‘Oh, good,’ Lio nods.

‘I think I might go out tomorrow to the shopping centre,’ Galo says quietly.

Lio and Lucia look at him like he’s crazy. ‘Are you kidding?! That’s a suicide mission,’ Lucia says. ‘You know how many people are there?’

Galo stands up. ‘But you know how many resources there are? It’s like a haven for everything we need,’ he says. ‘If I go in, fully armed, I can probably get some stuff for us. We’re all very capable fighters compared to the regular person, I’ll be able to give anyone who tries to attack me hell.’

Lio sighs, ‘fine, but I’m coming with you, and we’re taking _weapons_.’

Galo grins. ‘We’re gonna kick some ass.’

‘This isn’t for fighting Galo, we’re getting resources,’ Lio says sternly. ‘Don’t get too excited.’

‘Uh huh, okay.’

Lio groans.

##


	2. i would kill for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio and Galo go to get some supplies, and end up having a small mishap along the way.

Galo finishes donning himself with his equipment with the belt full of magazines around his waist. Lio chucks him a bag with a couple knives inside, “just in case”.

‘You’re very protective,’ Meis says to Lio, supposedly he was trying to be quiet but Galo could hear him perfectly well. Galo ignores him and ties his hair up.

‘Yeah, well,’ Lio whispers. ‘Shut up.’

Gueira gasps, and punches Lio’s side.

‘Hey!’ Lio yelps. ‘Go away, you two.’

Galo adjusts the belts around his waist and ties the bag to his utility belt. Lio has a backpack for them to put stuff in, along with his bow and bombs. Galo has his favourite gun, Lucia’s pistols, the bag of knives, and his axe.

‘Do you think I have enough weapons?’ he frowns, looking at the rows of ammunition tied around his waist. He jumps around to see how heavy he is with all of them. ‘It’s hard to walk.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ Lio says. ‘Here, I’ll hold your axe.’ Lio reaches up and grabs the axe off of Galo’s back, then places it in his quiver. ‘Let’s go.’

Galo nods and heads out of the house to greet everyone else sitting on the road playing cards.

‘We’re off, now!’ Galo says, waving.

‘Give em hell Galo!’ Lucia says to him as they walk away. Galo grins and nods, and Lio scolds Lucia for encouraging him.

They walk along the empty trainline to get to the shopping centre, keeping quiet but still having small talk.

‘Should we have brought the others?’ Lio mutters, looking over at the massive shopping centre.

Galo stops walking and turns to Lio. ‘Are you kidding?! We’re the best duo ever! Firefighter and the STRONGEST BURNISH IN THE WORLD.’

‘Quiet down, Galo,’ Lio whispers, slapping his hand over Galo’s mouth. ‘But you’re right. We’re also very armed.’

‘Exactly,’ Galo says, muffled through Lio’s hand. ‘Stop worrying.’

Lio sighs and nods. ‘We should have a plan, though. What are we getting?’

Galo hums and they duck down. ‘Let’s get food, water, weapons,’ he says, tapping his chin.

‘First aid supplies,’ Lio says.

‘Yeah, some of us can’t regenerate our bodies with fire,’ Galo laughs.

‘I think let’s just get the essentials and if we find anything else we need we’ll get it,’ Lio says with an exhale. ‘Sound like a plan?’

Galo nods.

‘Great, let’s go,’ Lio says, taking his bow from his back and readies it. Galo takes his gun and reloads. ‘Look scary.’

The automatic doors don’t work anymore, so Galo takes a deep breath and kicks down the glass. He only exhales when he doesn’t think anyone’s going to attack them. They stay silent while walking through the shopping centre, the only thing to be heard is the jingling of Galo’s ammunition. They finally reach a food store when Galo notices something in the corner of his eye.

‘Lio,’ Galo whispers. ‘3 o’clock.’

‘Shit,’ Lio hisses when he sees the person standing there with a pistol and a few shopping bags. They haven’t seen the two of them yet, but it’s only time. ‘What do we do?’

‘I- I don’t know- you’re the smart one,’ Galo says.

‘Hey! You two!’ the person yells. ‘Stand up!’

‘Guess we have our answer,’ Lio grumbles. The both of them stand up straight and slowly tilt their weapons down as to not aggravate the person.

‘Who are you?!’ she points her gun at Lio. ‘You look familiar.’ She then points it at Galo. ‘I don’t know who the fuck you are.’

Lio tilts his chin upwards. ‘Tell us your name first. I want to know you’re not an enemy.’

She scoffs. ‘Atlanta. My name is Atlanta Myanna,’ she says. ‘Now you.’

‘My name is Lio Fotia, and this is Galo Thymos,’ Lio says cautiously.

‘L-Lio Fotia?’ she says, lowering her gun. ‘Mad Burnish?’

Lio nods slowly.

‘You can go in, Galo stays.’

Galo scoffs quietly, and she tilts her gun up again at Galo.

‘Shut up, Galo,’ Lio sneers, kicking his leg. ‘Can he come?’

‘I usually don’t let anyone in at all,’ Atlanta says. ‘But since you’ve done so much for our people I’ll let you in. Burnish only.’

Lio frowns and looks at the ground, eyes darting. He looks up like he’s had an idea. ‘He’s family, even if he’s not a Burnish. He should be allowed in.’

Atlanta rolls her eyes. ‘How so.’

Lio grips Galo’s hand, and Galo’s stomach jumps. ‘He’s my boyfriend.’

Galo shoots him a look, his face red.

‘Fine,’ Atlanta sighs. ‘If you trust him that much. But if he slips up, both of you are out.’

Lio nods, thanking her. When they reach the inside of the store, Lio lets go of his hand.

‘What- why?’ Galo whispers.

‘That was the only thing I could think of!’ Lio says. ‘She wasn’t going to let you in otherwise.’

‘Let’s just get what we need and move on,’ Galo replies. Lio nods and they both search the store. Galo finds some rice and tinned meats which he takes off the shelf. Not all of it- Atlanta would never let them back if they took everything. After a little while, Lio comes up behind Galo and tells him to put everything in the backpack.

‘There’s a pharmacy and a supermarket a little further down, let’s keep going,’ Lio whispers. Galo follows behind Lio as they make their way out of the shop, walking quietly and low with their weapons drawn.

‘Where did you say it was?’ Galo asks, not seeing what Lio was talking about. Lio urges it’s a little further, for him to have patience. ‘Fine.’

They reach the store, sure, but they also reach a singular person. However, that person is pointing their gun at Galo’s head.

‘Stand,’ he says, cocking the gun. Lio and Galo cautiously rise, and Galo reaches for the cock of his own gun. ‘Move and I’ll shoot.’

‘We’re not here to harm you,’ Lio says calmly. ‘We just need supplies.’

The man scoffs. ‘Don’t we all? We all need fucking supplies,’ he says, breathing in a wheeze. ‘Why are YOU better than I am?’

‘We have more mouths to feed,’ Lio says. ‘We need more supplies.’

‘And I want to survive this!’ the man says, shaking his gun as he talks. ‘Maybe you should have thought about that before you banded a huge group!’

Lio growls. ‘We didn’t have a choice,’ he snarls, getting dangerously close to pissing this guy off. ‘This isn’t your property.’

‘It is now, fuckass,’ the man sneers. ‘I got here first. And now, I’m going to _kill you_.’

Lio puts his hand on the ground and makes a dome around Galo. What Galo hears next is something he wishes he’d never have to hear. A gunshot, a scream, and the sound of flesh thumping on the floor. It even sounds like a sphere that’s rolling... it can’t be.

Metal clanks next to him and the dome around him falls.

‘Galo- Galo are you okay?’ Lio’s terrified face greets him, grabbing his hands. ‘Oh, thank god. He shot the shield, I thought it might have gone through and hurt you.’

‘Lio... where is he,’ Galo whimpers. Lio’s face softens, and Galo gulps. ‘Did you... kill him?’

Lio sits back and exhales. ‘He was going to kill you, Galo.’

Galo looks around him. His axe is smeared with red, and a pool of blood runs along the white tile floor. It splashes onto the nearby walls, tear-drop shaped streams running down the door edges and corners. Galo stands up, his legs shaking.

‘You killed someone, Lio,’ he says. His voice crackles like a broken record. ‘His blood is on my axe!’

Lio picks up the axe and slides it back into his quiver. ‘I’m sorry.’

Galo shakes his head and hugs Lio tightly, thanking him over and over again. Lio saved his life, he killed someone for him.

Lio hugs him back, the silence they share deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some light angst for y'all! i swear it's not all gonna be like this, i felt this was necessary for the story


	3. don't underestimate me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bittersweetness of everyone leaving you behind when you asked for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Monday, new update
> 
> I did 2 because they're both kinda short, so have both
> 
> ALSO I PROMISE IT'S NOT ALL ANGST LMAO I JUST NEED TO GET THE TRAUMATICEVENT™ OUT OF THE WAY

The walk back is quiet. They’re well out of hostile territory and there’s not a single zombie in sight, but neither say a word. Lio even holds Galo’s shaking hand to comfort him. Galo doesn’t think about if Lio likes him. He doesn’t panic, he just stares at the ground at his feet and grips for dear life onto Lio’s hand. The big rocks underneath his feet crunch as they walk, accompanied by the soft sound of his belts jingling.

Galo watches as they walk, watching empty streets and abandoned houses. A child’s bike lays in pieces on the road beside them, handle fringes torn apart along with the rest of it. The foundations of houses are torn, their roofs missing tiles or torn just like the bike. The road glistens in the sunlight, made shiny by both red and black blood.

That child’s death was recent.

Galo inhales sharply, squeezing Lio’s hand. It’s going to take him a little while to process. Sure, he’s seen people die, but he’s never had their blood sprayed out around him, and someone he knows holding the weapon. Someone he likes, someone he admires.

‘Are you going to be okay?’ Lio asks quietly.

Galo nods.

‘The others can help you, too.’

‘Yeah.’

‘I’m really sorry.’

‘Please don’t be.’

Lio looks up at him with drooped eyes and furrowed eyebrows.

‘I don’t want you to be sad.’

‘I’m not. I just- need a minute to gather myself.’

‘It’s okay if you are.’

‘Thank you, but I’m alright.’

Lio nods with a small sigh. ‘You’ll tell me if you aren’t.’

‘Sure.’

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Lucia and the rest are nice to him when they get back. They don’t tease him for holding onto Lio or anyone else, they just tell him funny stories and play games with him.

He really is going to be okay, and he really does only needs a tiny while to process, he just needs that time.

‘Did you know, Remi can fit 3 cookies in his mouth at once?’ Luica says, putting a finger up. ‘Before you were with us, we played a game and Remi had to put as many cookies in his mouth as he could or tell us about his crush.’

‘It was vile, I felt so disgusting,’ Remi says. ‘But I wasn’t fessing up, so.’

‘You still don’t talk about her much,’ Aina says, tapping her chin. ‘Why’s that?’

Remi purses his lips. ‘I like to keep my work and home life seperate.’

Lucia snorts. ‘You’re such a square.’

‘Where is she?’

‘I think she’s with her parents,’ Remi sighs.

‘You didn’t bring her with you?’ Galo asks. ‘If I had someone I’d make sure to bring them with me.’

Galo feels a tap on his shoulder, and looks back to see Ignis standing behind him. ‘Come with me for a little while,’ he says, his voice soft for comfort. Galo looks to Lio who squeezes his hand a little and lets go. Galo stands up and follows Ignis down the road. ‘You got a gun?’

‘Yeah,’ Galo says. ‘I’ve got Lucia’s pistols.’

‘Good,’ Ignis says.

‘Where are we going?’

‘Just for a walk, don’t worry about it,’ Ignis replies. He looks over at Galo. ‘I heard what happened.’

Galo sighs and nods. ‘Did Lio tell you?’

‘He did,’ Ignis says. ‘He said you didn’t take it very well.’

‘I just- I had someone’s blood all over my weapons and surrounding me,’ Galo says. ‘I’m not going to skip out of there.’

‘I know,’ Ignis says. ‘You’re usually not clingy when you’re sad, though. You’re mostly distant, actually.’

‘You’ve been keeping tabs on me?’

‘I’m your employer, Galo,’ Ignis says sternly. ‘But aside from that, I have an interest in your wellbeing. Do you think it’s different that Lio killed him? Would you have taken it differently if someone you know well didn’t kill him?’

‘Well- I don’t know!’ Galo scuffs his shoe against the ground. ‘How do you want me to take it? What is even the purpose of this?’

Ignis sighs. ‘I just want to make sure you’re okay.’

‘Can I just have some time to process what happened?!’ Galo yells, and he knows the rest of the camp can hear him. ‘I just want everyone to stop asking about it, and let me figure it out!’

Ignis stops walking. ‘You don’t need to figure everything out by yourself.’

‘Well, this one I want to.’

‘Fine, but we can’t have a deadweight, so figure it out soon,’ Ignis huffs, fed up with Galo’s defiance. He walks back to camp and into the house, leaving Galo standing in the middle of the road, stunned. Even though he wanted to be left alone, it still hurt a little when he was.

From the camp he can see Lio’s sad eyes staring back at him.


	4. midnight thoughts are the most coherent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess what? it's monday. 
> 
> we've got gay panic, some lio, some actual plot
> 
> enjoy

Lio and Galo sit out on the front porch at midnight when the rest of the group is inside sleeping. Lio’s holding a hot cup of tea, and Galo’s just staring off into the distance.

‘...Want me to brush your hair? Lio asks quietly.

Galo nods subtly, not really wanting to admit it, but he would really like that. Lio smiles and stands up, walking back into the house. Galo looks over at the road while he waits, listening to the soft ruffling inside. Lio comes back and sits behind Galo, taking out his hair tie. Galo just wants to turn around and hug him tight, and never let go. But since he can’t, he looks out unto the road and imagines what the street would have looked like before all of this happened. He imagines the road with a few cars every now and then, he imagines people walking their dogs up and down the streets, maybe stopping to talk to each other.

He notices something in the dark while Lio’s finishing off brushing his hair.

‘Lio,’ he whispers, picking up his gun and ammunition belt from his side.

‘Yeah?’

‘Look.’

Lio leans over Galo to look, and stands up quickly when he sees the horde making their way to where they are. At least 20 zombies. Some of them look like regular people, but they’re as rabid as the others.

Lio runs back inside.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

I frantically pick up the first weapon I see on the counter and check the magazine. 3 bullets.

I check the next one, 10 bullets. That’s going to have to do.

I rush back outside to see Galo reloading his gun and fixing his belt around his waist.

‘This is my comfy shirt, too,’ he huffs, clicking his gun into auto. He grumbles and takes his shirt off, throwing it on the porch. I look at the hair tie on my wrist and tie my hair up, then cock my gun. ‘Come on, let’s get this over with.’

I nod, rushing down the front stairs. Galo starts shooting the nearby zombies, and I quickly follow suit, shooting the ones to my right. The sound of Galo’s machine gun is deafening, but it’s better than being mauled.

The familiar sight of blood runs down the road, collecting in pools and streaming through the gutters on the side of the road. Even in the darkness, I can see the remains surrounding us. The only light we have is a janky streetlamp in front of the house lighting up the part of the road we’re standing on. It’s almost like a spotlight for the two of us.

‘How many have you got left?’ I breathe, failing hopelessly at using the guns.

‘I’ve still got about ten,’ Galo replies with a strained voice. ‘How are you going?’

‘I’m not much better,’ I say, the gun clicking in defeat. I grumble and throw the pistol back at the house, taking out the second gun. 3 bullets. ‘I’m a gun down.’

‘Shit, Lio,’ Galo yelps. ‘Use your fire!’

I groan, knowing it’s probably fine since there’s nobody around. Besides, Galo’s already yelled it out, so if someone was going to arrest me they would have done it by now.

I create a small fire in the palm of my hand and let it grow until it’s big enough for me to use properly.

I make a long whip out of the flames and use it to try and asphyxiate the zombies, but of course, that doesn’t do shit. Not even a flame sword or bow does anything.

‘It’s not working!’ I call back. ‘It’s not doing anything!’

Galo grunts and shoots the remaining zombies I have left, then stops.

He shifts away his electric blue hair, running his hand through the soft clumps. I just stand there, and regretfully, my ears start to feel warm. He’s just so beautiful in the soft light of the streetlamp. The light hits his hair just right to make the strands glow like gold, and make his indicolite coloured eyes shimmer. Plus, he’s shirtless, so that helps.

 _Oh,_ I think. _Fuck._

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

‘What do you mean, it’s not doing anything?’ Galo huffs, fixing his hair.

Lio scrambles for his words. ‘I- I don’t know, it didn’t do anything!’ he says, pacing. He doesn’t look Galo in the eyes. ‘It’s like they’re immune!’

‘God, can you two save your killing spree for the morning?’ a voice says from the porch. Both of them look over to see Luica standing there in her pyjamas. ‘I’d rather not listen to bullets and yelling in the middle of the night.’

‘Do you want to get eaten in your sleep?’ Lio says, pursing his lips. ‘We’re trying to figure something out.’

‘What, the mystery of why you two are up at midnight instead of sleeping?’ Lucia says, hopping down the stairs.

‘No, my Promare doesn’t work on the zombies. It’s like they’re immune,’ Lio hums, obviously frustrated by the situation.

Lucia taps her chin. ‘Well, maybe the zombie you fought was a Burnish.’

Lio huffs. ‘No, because I fought multiple, and it didn’t work on any of them.’

‘Well, let’s go on a killing spree and see what data we get,’ Lucia says. Lio nods, putting away the second pistol. ‘Also, thanks for disrespecting my pistols.’

‘Sorry,’ Lio winces, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I panicked.’

‘How are we gonna get to some zombies?’ Galo says, kicking away a corpse close to him. ‘I’m pretty sure we got all of these.’

Lio smiles and turns away. Galo looks over his shoulder, to see blinding burnish flame. Lio stands back and moulds the flames into a motorbike just like the one he’d made when they first met, just longer. He jumps on the back of the bike and taps the seat behind him.

‘We’ll use this,’ he grins. Galo stares at him, his cheeks flushed. He looks so badass on the bike, and Galo panics. ‘Get on, I made extra seats.’

He nods quickly, and Lucia winks at him.

‘I’ll go inside and tell the others we’re off,’ Lucia says, patting Galo on the back. He gulps as she walks away, realising there’s only one spot for Galo to hold on.

‘So uh, do I just-’

‘It’s not gonna burn you,’ Lio says. ‘I’ve put a protective flame around it.’

‘I can’t ride a bike with no hands,’ Galo says, laughing nervously. He hopes Lio can make handles or something, because he doesn’t know how well he’d take holding onto him.

‘Just hold my shoulders or waist or something,’ Lio shrugs. ‘However you usually ride a bike with another person.’

Galo reminds himself they’re just riding a bike, and sits down behind Lio. Lucia comes running back out of the house a little while later and plonks down behind Galo. He knows she spent longer in there so Galo wouldn’t have a choice but to sit behind Lio. It’s like she’s _trying_ to feel like a third wheel. That or she really wants Galo to suffer. Probably the latter.

Lio fires up the bike, the engine whirring beneath them. How does he construct an entire engine just with fire?

‘Everyone ready? It’s pretty fast,’ Lio asks, looking over his shoulder. Lucia puts her hands on Galo’s shoulders and puts a thumbs up. Galo reluctantly wraps his arms around Lio’s waist and rests against his back. Lio’s hair smells really nice.

Actually, it’s kinda musty. It just smells like Lio, which is enough.

He takes off with roaring speed, and Galo grips his waist tighter. ‘Do you have to go this fast?!’ he yells over the roar of the engine. ‘I’m gonna fall off!’

‘Don’t be such a baby, Galo!’ Lucia teases from behind him. ‘It’s fine!’

Galo whimpers quietly and buries his face in Lio’s shoulder. The other two laugh at Galo’s fear, and he rolls his eyes, gripping Lio tighter. He rides faster after that, and Galo yells at him to slow down.

‘Lio- I’m literally going to fall off- please slow down!’ Galo whines.

‘Not when you’re gripping on to me for dear life,’ Lio says. ‘I can barely breathe.’

Galo winces but doesn’t let go. ‘Sorry.’

Lucia thoroughly enjoys the ride, even standing up on the seat at some point to which Galo screamed at her to sit down. Eventually, Lio stops the bike when he decides that there are enough zombies to work with.

Galo staggers off the bike, stabilising himself by holding Lio’s shoulders.

‘You’re pretty shaken up by this, don’t you ride a bike of your own?’ Lio asks, resting the bike against a nearby fence.

‘Yeah, but I don’t usually go this fast, and I have handles,’ Galo says, pursing his lips.

‘You had me,’ Lio shrugs. ‘Besides, Lucia seemed fine with not holding on.’

Lucia sticks a thumb up while she’s getting out a notebook and pens.

‘That’s because she’s insane.’

Lucia laughs and agrees with Galo, then exclaims that she’s ready and good to start with the experiment.

‘So this is how it’s gonna work,’ she says, standing in between the two of them. She sticks the pen in Lio’s chest. ‘You’re gonna fight those things the best you can, Galo you’re backup with the gun, and I’m taking notes. Sound good?’

Lio rubs the spot where Lucia poked him with a nod.

‘Go on, have fun,’ she says.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

I take a deep breath, the cold night air clawing at my throat. Behind me, Galo reloads his gun and gets ready to shoot any zombie that comes too close.

I look over at him, and he offers a grin in return.

‘You got this,’ he mouths to me, and my ears feel warm, and I instinctively tuck some loose hair behind my ear.

I shake my arms out and feel the power of the Promare surging through my body and to my palms, listening to the quiet chants in the back of my head telling me to burn.

 _Burn them, burn stronger, burn harder, burn them to the ground_.

Flame explodes from my palms, and the chants grow louder. I create strings of fire around my arms and hands, firing bullets of energy at the zombies, but despite my best efforts, they still stagger towards me. The fire rages in the back of my head, frustrated I can’t burn. I let out a cry of anger and smash the fire on the ground.

‘See?!’ I yell, looking behind me. Lucia and Galo look somewhat intimidated by my outburst, so I take a deep breath and try my best to ignore the Promare’s screams. ‘It doesn’t work.’

Galo rushes to my side and fires at the zombies that decided they wanted a hug or whatever. I mutter a thank you, rubbing the back of my neck. He tells me I have nothing to thank him for.

‘That’s interesting,’ Lucia says, cutting into our conversation. ‘Lemme see that corpse, this is gonna get a bit gross, I’m sorry.’

‘What are you doing,’ I wince as Lucia pulls the knife out of her pocket.

‘Some janky back-alley surgery,’ she replies, carving into the chest of the zombie. Galo covers his mouth and turns away with a gulp, and I cringe at the mess she’s making. She pulls out the heart in the chest cavity and I cover my own mouth. It’s truly disgusting, all the tendons and ribs awake and visible to the world, sadly, visible to my eyes. ‘I think I might know what’s up.’

She slices into the heart and pulls it open, revealing the cavities full of ash. Wait- what?

‘This look familiar, Lio?’ she says, handing me the heart. I politely decline holding it, but I look inside the cavities.

‘It must be haunted by the Promare,’ I say, taking a bit of the ash in my hands. I make a small fire on my palm, sprinkle the ash on the fire, and sure enough, that zombie was a Burnish. ‘But why?’

Galo composes himself and turns back to the two of us. ‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen anyone using Burnish fire apart from you, Meis, and Gueira.’

I scratch my head, trying to decipher what that could mean. Were they the only Burnish left, and the rest became zombies? But these people don’t look alive. What if- what if the Promare possessed dead bodies in an attempt to kill the human race and burn everything?!

But then, why was nobody else a Burnish? When I think about it some more, I realise, my Burnish powers have been dimmed recently. What if the Promare left the Burnish, possessed dead bodies, but if my powers are strong enough, I can force some to stay?

‘I think I have an idea.’


End file.
